Attorneys for condemned murderer Marcus Wellons are attacking how lethal injection drugs are prescribed and who is involved in the production of the individually-made barbiturate that is to be used for his execution scheduled for Tuesday.
Appeals were filed in two courts — in Fulton County Superior Court late Wednesday and in U.S. District Court today.
Wellons’ lawyers wrote in an appeal filed in Fulton Superior Court that state and federal law prohibit dispensing a prescribed drug for “no legitimate medical purpose” or writing a prescription when there is a “physician-patient relationship.” A hearing on that appeal is set for Friday afternoon.
A second appeal was filed today in federal court, attacking Georgia’s law that keeps secret the identity of the pharmacy that made the pentobarbital specifically for Wellons’ execution scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. A federal judge will hear that appeal Monday.
Wellons was sentenced to die for the 1989 rape and murder of India Roberts, a 15-year-old girl who lived with her mother in a Cobb County townhouse near one where Wellons was living with his then-girlfriend.
About the Author
